A Pop-Culture Podcast

Weekend Watch – 9/30/16

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Loren: What if Tim Burton made the X-Men set in the 20s? I don’t really trust Mr. Burton anymore so I think I’m waiting on this one. It looks interesting though.

RDT: Pretty much what Loren and Rick said (sorry, Jen).

Rick: I’m not familiar with the source material, but this feels like X-Men by way of Harry Potter with the look of an Edward Gorey sketch. I don’t know if I’m interested enough to catch this in theaters, but it looks like a good rainy afternoon movie.

Jen: Does this movie skew female? I already have my ticket for Friday (with a bunch of girlfriends)? Could this be a return to old-school Tim Burton? My fingers are crossed that after a few misses this re-captures the Edward Scissorhands-era magic.

Deepwater Horizon

Loren: There are a lot of people in this. Whether they are good or not is left to be seen. I just can’t seem to get into this movie. I don’t even know if I’ll bother when it hits DVD/Streaming.

RDT: When I was seeing this for free, I was looking forward to it. Since those plans fell through, meh. I’ll see it eventually, but I feel no rush to catch it this weekend, or even in theaters.

Rick: I don’t always care for Peter Berg’s movies (don’t get me started on Lone Survivor), but one of the things he does well is direct action. He has an excellent sense of geography when constructing scenes, so even during the chaos the audience is aware of where the characters are and what obstacles they’re facing. That doesn’t assert that Deepwater Horizon is going to be good from a story standpoint, but I’m sure it’ll be well composed visually. From that perspective, it’ll be worth checking out in theaters.

Jen: This has a strong Armageddon feel about it. I may have imagined it but I swear I heard that annoying Aerosmith song over Marky-Mark’s skype call. Also this isn’t exactly related but all the TV ads for this say “Based on a True Story” which annoys me because, duh – who doesn’t remember this event from just six years ago.

Masterminds

Loren: I like pretty much everyone in this, but this just looks bad to me. I might catch it on a bored Sunday, like 3 years from now.

RDT: Like Loren said, great cast. But I don’t think I laughed even once watching that trailer. And given trailers for comedies tend to show the funniest parts, yeah, I’m out.

Rick: Reminds me a lot of Quick Change (1990), and that’s not a bad thing. And while I like all of these people, I’m going to need be in the right frame of mind for this much buffoonery.

Jen: RDT, I counted. I did not laugh once during this trailer. Maybe… maybe they’re holding all the best stuff for the movie? I guess I’ll never know. This is a hard pass for me.

American Honey (Limited)

RDT: I’ll give it a shot eventually, based on reviews, but not in theaters.

Rick: Shia LaBeouf has been hit or miss the last several years. Mostly miss, if we’re being honest. But since he’s more or less rejected mainstream Hollywood he’s been stretching as an actor, and that’s not something to be overlooked. Given the accolades this has received thus far, I can’t see this as being a miss. I’ll give it a go. I just need to steel my bladder for the 162 minute running time.

Jen: People seem to love this movie. I can’t say I’ll see it in theaters, but I may check it out in the streaming world down the line. This trailer made me fearful that some day my daughter may run off with a Shia LaBeouf type. That thought may give me more nightmares than any horror movie.

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (Limited)

Loren: Cool, it’s a cricket take on the traditional baseball movie.

RDT: This movie is 3 hours and 10 minutes, in another language, about cricket. I think I’m good.

Rick: Unfortunately, I feel like the trailer summed up everything I needed to know about that story in just over three minutes. The film looks uplifting and will obviously resonate with an Indian audience and fans of the game, but I think I’ll be okay reading an article about the man’s life to supplement what the trailer reveals.

Jen: Wait, what? This movie is OVER 3 hours??? But, but, it only took them 3 minutes to tell the whole story. Is there some other movie hiding in all of that extra time? Is there a full on 2 hour Bollywood musical stuffed in the middle of this run-of-the-mill biopic? Someone see it and tell me because I’m not going to.

Denial (Limited)

Loren: Holocaust deniers are pretty much the lowest of the low as far as I’m concerned. (Hot take, I know). This has a very strong cast and looks really well done, I’m just not sure I’ll be able to sit through it. The subject matter is a little rough.

RDT: Not the most uplifting source material, that’s for sure. I’m sure I’ll give it a watch eventually.

Rick: I go to the movies a lot. Shocking, I know. I mention this only because this trailer has played in front of nearly every drama I’ve seen in the last five weeks. And every time I’ve seen it I’ve had the same visceral reaction: I want to smack the hell out of Timothy Spall’s Holocaust-denier character. I want to see the truth prevail so badly I can taste it. This is definitely getting my money.

Jen: Rachel Weisz is keeping busy this fall. This looks like it could be fantastic – I will add it to the list of prestige pictures I hope to see in my voluminous amount of free time.

A Man Called Ove (Limited)

Loren: I liked seeing Ove as a young man meeting his wife and getting a little more than just a grumpy old man story. But, I know me and I know I won’t see this movie.

RDT: Right up until the flashbacks kicked in, it looked like every other grumpy old neighbor movie ever. The flashbacks add a unique twist to it. Count me in, eventually.

Rick: My eyes aren’t misty, that’s just my allergies…

Jen: Well that looks delightful. I don’t know that I’ll ever see it, but I certainly support other people seeing it.

Danny Says (Limited)

Loren: Neat. I like (most) of these bands. Sure, why not.

RDT: Meh. Nothing against the subject matter, I’m just not a music guy at all.

Rick: Definitely in. And this begs to be the lead-off in a double feature with Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization.

Jen: Yes. Love or hate this type of music there is no arguing that the bands he was involved with are fascinating. I bet this guy has more than a thousand fascinating stories to tell. I’d be happy to hear five or six of them.

Long Way North (Limited)

Loren: I’m a bit of a sucker for French animation. While I’m not going to seek this out in one of the few theaters playing it, I do see it ending up in the queue of whichever streaming service it lands on.

RDT: This looks stunning. Love the old school animation (hate that 2D is now old school). If it pops up streaming, and I remember it, I’ll probably give it a watch.

Rick: This is the directorial debut of Rémi Chayé, whose most prominent contributions to animation have been to The Painting (2011) and The Secret of the Kells (2009); both of which are worth seeking out. Call me old fashioned, but I get inordinately excited when animated films are done in 2D, and I love the nearly lineless style of this film. Count me in.

Jen: This looks lovely, but I can’t imagine ever seeing it. I have a cold, dead heart when it comes to charming, foreign animation.

TV/Netflix/Blu-Ray/HBO

Westworld (HBO)

Loren: This is part one of what I will be watching this weekend. It took a long time to get here, but what we’ve seen looks really good.

RDT: Is this the heir apparent to Game of Thrones? Fuck if I know, I’ve never watched Game of Thrones (pause for people to express shock that I, of all people, have never watched Game of Thrones?!?!?!?). Regardless of that, and the production issues, I’m in for this.

Rick: It’s okay, RDT. I don’t watch Game of Thrones, either. More on point: this show is, literally, years in the making. The fact that it was such a troubled production has me a little concerned, but I like the idea of expanding the source material into a series. Since I’m not an HBO subscriber I’ll probably wait on this one.

Jen: Giddiup! I’m saddling up for this one.

Luke Cage (Netflix original)

Loren: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (This is part two, and will probably be the only thing I actually watch)

Jen: Hot. I mean yes, I will watch this hot man do things. Super things. Words are failing me. Yes.

Amanda Knox (Netflix/Limited Theatrical)

Loren: Whoa. *moves to the front of the documentary line*

RDT: Looks like it’s a busy tv weekend. Thankfully, I have little-to-no social life.

Rick: I have a vague memory of this story hitting the news years ago…Cripes, that was in 2007?! Anyway, I didn’t really follow it at the time, so this is all fresh to me. And that trailer is goddamn bone-chilling. *adds to queue*

Jen: I know just enough about this case to want to know more. I will be watching this as soon as I can.

So that’s your upcoming weekend in review. Let us know what you saw, liked and/or hated.